Praise

Apparently, everyone knew what that meant but Toruk. With one accord, the Galus began to clap, including Veronica seated next to him. Toruk gradually joined in as the Galus clapped to a slow methodical beat. They clapped once, then waited 2-3-4, then clapped again. On and on this went for several minutes. It seemed that all the Galus in all five linked train cars were doing likewise. The sound of their synchronized claps vibrated against the steel cars, which themselves vibrated against the majestic Matla Mountain.

The Galu man began a chant in Lijian.

"Peak!" he said with a clap.

The passengers waited 2-3-4, then responded in clapping unison with "Peak!"

Then the Galu man sang "Glory to the Voice! Glory to the Voice!"

The passengers replied in unison with "Peak! [2-3-4] Peak! [2-3-4]."

Then he sat down, and a Galu woman sitting in the back row of the train car shot up.

"Chena saves souls! Chena saves souls!" she said.

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak! [2-3-4]"

Another Galu stood up and sang "The Wind renews the earth! The Wind renews the earth!"

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

And another sang “The Voice has the power! The Voice has the power!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Chena gives us life! Chena gives us life!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“The Voice lives forever! The Voice lives forever!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Yuli is wisdom! Yuli is wisdom!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Chena is alive! Chena is alive!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“The Voice calls us all! The Voice calls us all!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“The Voice is my friend! The Voice is my friend!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Yuli speaks the truth! Yuli speaks the truth!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Chena is pure water! Chena is pure water!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“The Voice loves us all! The Voice loves us all!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Where is the Voice? Where is the Voice?”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Where are we going? Where are we going?”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Chena lives forever! Chena lives forever!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Chena split the sea! Chena split the sea!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Yuli endures forever! Yuli endures forever!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“The Voice called my name! The Voice called my name!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“The Voice struck the Shadow! The Voice struck the Shadow!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Struck him on its head! Struck him on its head!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Yuli carries me home! Yuli carries me home!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Chena flows forever! Chena flows forever!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“The Voice is my life! The Voice is my life!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Chena is undefeated! Chena is undefeated!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Yuli is the Wind! Yuli is the Wind!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Yuli killed the hawks! Yuli killed the hawks!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Chena heals their wounds! Chena heals their wounds!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“The Voice has the plan! The Voice has the plan!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“The Voice is on the Peak! The Voice is on the Peak!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Chena reflects the Peak! Chena reflects the Peak!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Yuli obeys the Voice! Yuli obeys the Voice!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Where are we going? Where are we going?”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Where is our home? Where is our home?”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Where is the Sacred Waterstone? Where is the Sacred Waterstone?”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Where is the Voice? Where is the Voice?”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

“Glory to the Voice! Glory to the Voice!”

"Peak! [2-3-4] Peak![2-3-4]"

And on and on the song went. Toruk recognized the chant from when he was enveloped within the Yuli Wind’s torrent on the Chena River. He could not deny how the song made him feel, especially surrounded by such enthusiastic singers. He sensed all his doubts and questions as to how the train would reach the Peak suddenly melt away leaving him remarkably relaxed, unwittingly caught in the throes of blissful happiness, of childlike joy, of collective togetherness. He felt his mind growing stronger with each chant, with each clap.

Never had he felt this way before. I belong, Toruk noticed. I belong here. I-I belong to the Voice. His human spirit was gradually climbing the ladder of euphoria, incrementally increasing in intensity and devotion, nearly setting his soul on fire with untapped joy.

The more Toruk heard, the more he thought, and the more he clapped. He, too, had been enveloped in the Yuli Wind, wrapped in its aerated arms, watching strange but poignant images magically display on the torrent’s wall, hearing the Wind speak, introducing himself and describing his relation to the Voice. He, too, had witnessed the Voice’s magnificent power to save. He had been saved from the Shadow, from the hawks, from the Meadow of Memory, from the People’s Pond, from falling off the Mountainside. He had been mysteriously healed of his blindness and his body renewed. And he had seen the purity of the Chena River diminish the hawks, causing them to vanish into thin air, as if they were here, and now they weren’t, all the while keeping Toruk safe and still, standing upon the Chena’s thin sheer ice which never cracked, never broke, illuminating the path to the Valley ahead.

He, too, had been called by the Voice. He, too, had defeated the Shadow, although temporarily, by crushing his heel upon its head. He, too, had escaped Satqin and had apparently become the object of the Voice’s affection, receiving untold graces upon graces. He, too, had been embraced by the enchanted Matla Valley, touched and kissed by the living snow while persevering beneath the Voice’s all-seeing eye. Ta! (Yes!) Toruk shouted in his thoughts. Peak! Peak!

While the song continued, the train itself remained stalled, hovering just over the bed of Tavatu, seated tens of thousands of feet below the Peak. Though the electricity had seemingly died, Toruk did not feel cold, for as the sun continued to rise, it flooded the train cars with blinding glorious light, sufficiently warming everyone inside.

In fact, he felt wrapped in a warmth he had never known before, a soothing warmth, one that penetrated his heart and mind, feeding the growing fire in his soul. There Toruk sat by the window, flooded with golden light upon his face, clapping to a dizzily happy chant, inwardly growing with anticipation of meeting the Voice face to face.

He did not yet know that the train was not stalled or out of electricity but was simply waiting for the Voice’s signal. He could not yet see the Voice Upon the Mountain standing on the Peak looking down at the train hovering thousands of feet below, patiently waiting for the right time to give the Yuli Wind the signal. And Toruk did not yet know that the signal had everything to do with him.

“I’m ready whenever you are. Just say the word!” the Yuli Wind called secretly to the Voice in Vana as he eagerly paced around the train, listening to the passengers chant the Peak song.

“He’s not yet ready. He is still holding back,” responded the Voice Upon the Mountain, speaking outside of space and time.

“I can help with that. I can press him,” offered the Wind.

“No,” said the Voice. “I want him to express it on his own. Love can never be forced. True love is spontaneous and self-willed.”

“Peak! Peak!” cried the Wind, unable to contain his excitement.

“Yuli, calm down,” ordered the Voice. “You must remain at the ready.”

“Sorry, Voice. I could not help but to join in on the song. It is my favorite.”

“Yes, it is mine, too.”

“Oh Voice, I can’t wait to see him with you on the Peak with the Waterstone in his hand! How marvelous to watch Toruk turn into one of the worthiest of souls. Oh, how marvelous his work will be! Peak! Peak!”

“Yuli, silence!” roared the Voice. “I am listening to his soul. He will soon be ready. Wait for my signal.”

“Oh, Voice, his work will be astonishing!” said the Wind. “I can see it now. He will bring many to this very Mountain, straight up to the very Peak you stand upon.”

“That is if he allows my love in.”

“Oh, he will. Even now I feel his spirit, Voice. He is moved by the song, deeply moved. Peak! Peak!”

“Yes, I feel it, too.”

“Oh, it will be marvelous, just marvelous! I look forward to marching those souls to you, working with the Chena, revealing the unseen road straight to the Peak!”

“Do not get overexcited, Yuli. Much work must be done before then.”

“Oh, nonsense. The young Lijian defeated the Shadow once, so he can do it again…and this time seeing!”

“The Shadow is a cunning creature, full of mischief, jealousy, and hate, Yuli. He will sniff out the Waterstone and seek to destroy it once Toruk returns to Satqin. I have no doubt about that. I know the Shadow well.”

“Perhaps, Voice, I can take Toruk by another way? I can carry him back to Ceto without going through Satqin at all.”

“No, Yuli. The battle rages on for a reason. He must return to Ceto by the same road, but he will be renewed…and armed.”

“You’re going to give him the weapons?”

“Yes.”

“Marvelous, Voice, just marvelous! Peak! Peak!”

“Silence, Yuli, he is finally about to speak.”

“Oh, Voice, this is just marv-”

“Silence!”

As the song continued in the train, Veronica finally took her turn, immediately jumping to her feet and singing, "The Voice is waiting now! The Voice is waiting now!"

"Peak! [2-3-4]," the Galus cried in response. “Peak! [2-3-4]"

Meanwhile, a proverbial fire was coursing through Toruk, beginning in his belly then rising to his chest and into his throat. He shifted in his seat, wiping his dampening brow. He looked at Veronica who was happily clapping and chanting along. Toruk felt like he needed to stand up, but hesitated at first, fighting the fire burning within him which made him sweat all the more, forcing him to continually wipe his brow. The clapping became like claps of thunder to the young Lijian’s ears, the chanting like angelic shouts. He could no longer keep it in. He had to shout it out lest he burn to pieces.

This inner burning sensation was new, something he had never felt before. It was greater than the secret desire he possessed for his love for Rona. It was hotter than the ambition he had felt this night to fulfill his father’s wishes to save Ceto. It was more intense than the emotions he felt when earlier enraptured within the Yuli Wind’s torrent.

This fire was a blaze, lapping up his fears and doubts and everything he previously knew of truth and order. He felt as if something else was coming, something new, a new truth, a new understanding of life and the way of things. It was forging from within him, seeking to burst out, fighting for its moment in the sun.

Toruk held on as long as he could, figuring that his clapping along was enough, that he did not have to throw his hat in the ring, that the train was filled with apparent disciples of the Peak and thus his voiced devotion was wholly unnecessary, that the Voice already knew how he felt and perhaps even what he thought, for at times, Toruk had spoken to the Voice through his mind and the Voice always responded. I don’t need to join in this, he concluded. Clapping is enough. I’ll just keep clapping until the train moves forward.

But then that inner fire suddenly jumped from Toruk’s mouth and onto his tongue, burning it. He stood up, suddenly feeling he could no longer sit. Then he sat back down, unwilling to draw attention to himself. Toruk rubbed his neck. He swallowed. He looked around. He smoothed his hair. He wrung his hands. He adjusted his coat. No, he told himself, I don’t need to do this.

“Legend has it that the one who lives on the Mountain can consume people,” Uncle Quinn had said.

“What do you mean?” Toruk had asked.

“Well, I heard that he has a bit of a temper, you know. If he can’t consume people, they’re sort of useless to him.”

“Consume them how?”

“I heard he wants people to spend their whole lives trying to reach the Peak.”

“He sounds like a tyrant, uncle.”

“Oh, no, Toruk. Lijian legend says that though the one who lives on the Mountain has great power, he doesn’t use it for evil. They say he’s kind, good even.”

“And consumes people?”

“Ah, yes!” chuckled Uncle Quinn. “And consumes people.”

“It almost sounds cannibalistic, uncle,” said Toruk, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Well, perhaps that’s why no one has ever reached the Peak. Of course, the enchanted Valley certainly has a hand in it. Some people have great fear.”

“Were you afraid, uncle?”

Uncle Quinn shrugged. “I don’t know, my boy. I truly don’t remember all my feelings. I only remember what happened to me, how I was spit out of the Valley like trash!”

“Well, if I have to climb the Mountain to get the Sacred Waterstone, I’ll do it somehow. I’m not afraid. Nothing will consume me.”

“What is consumption anyway, I wonder?” said Uncle Quinn, scratching his beard. “Is it just eating something, putting something into your body? Can’t we be consumed through other ways, through anger, lust, even love?”

“I guess.”

“Maybe that’s the consumption the one upon the Mountains does. Who really knows, eh? It’s all legend anyway.”

“That you believe.”

“Yes, my boy, I do believe. Most Lijian legends have some ring of truth to them. It was us Lijians who diagnosed the Satqin sickness and revealed the existence of the healing Sacred Waterstone long before the Cetans could understand. We are the people of nature, the people who understand the hidden way of things. So, yes, I do believe the legends, Toruk…all of them.”

“And if I’m consumed, uncle?”

“Then I’m sure you’ll be rather tasty, my boy!” said Uncle Quinn, laughing, slapping his knee. “Though with your skin and bones, there won’t be much fat to go around.”

“Uncle!” cried Toruk, laughing.

“Ah yes,” said Uncle Quinn, still chuckling. “Let’s hope that if you do make it across the Chena and into Matla Valley and up the Mountain all the way to the Peak where the one upon the Mountain will greet you, he will greet you with a big kiss and consume you only with showers of honor and virtue. Let’s hope that will be the only consumption going on up there, my boy.”

“And if it’s not?”

“Well, I suppose you will be his best meal, Toruk.”

“Uncle!”

Toruk could not take it anymore. The fire felt as if it was sizzling on his tongue now, creating unwanted spittle that he continually wiped from the sides of his mouth. He had to say it. He had to scream it. He had to declare it. There was no other way. He could not return to peace until he belted it out, until he revealed to all what he had just realized, what he felt burning in his heart, truths he had mysteriously and spontaneously come to deeply understand.

Toruk shot to his feet again and screamed "The Voice, Chena, and Yuli are one! The Voice, Chena, and Yuli are one!"

The Galus replied in unison with "Peak! [2-3-4] Peak! [2-3-4]."

“The three in one love me! And I love the three!” Toruk screamed.